Test-lock for switch and signal apparatus



(Nd Mode l.)

J. T. HAMBAY. TEST LOOK FOR SWITCH AND SIGNAL APPARATUS.

No. 429,193. Patented June 3, 1890.

I @5 MA I "IVE/Maia UNITED I STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JAMES T. HAMBAY, OF IVILKINSBURG, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNION SWITCH AND SIGNAL COMPANY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

TEST-LOCK FOR SWITCH AND SIGNAL APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,193, dated June 3, 1890.

Application filed February 21, 1889.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES T. I'IAMBAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at- \Vilkinsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Test-Locks for Switch and Signal Apparatus, of which improvements the following is a specification.

The invention described herein relates to certain improvements in switch and signal apparatus, and has for its object a construction and arrangement of locking devices whereby the signal-man is enabled after every switch movement in a yard or portion thereof to ascertain whether the switches have been fully shifted and in such position as will allow the movements of trains thereover, and simultaneous with such test to look all the switches included in the test movement.

In general terms, the invention consists in the construction and arrangment of mechanical devices or elements, all as more fully herein described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan View of a portion of a yard having my invention applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the test-lock.

For purposes of illustration anddescription I have shown my invention as applied to the switches a, b, c, d, and e of the main lines of track A and B, the switches a, Z), c, and d being crossover switches. The movements of these several switches are eifected by suitable mechanisms 1 1 1, &c., preferably of the construction shown and described in Letters Patent No. 399,888, dated March 19, 1889. These switch-shifting mechanisms are operated by levers of a suitable interlockingmachine located in a tower, as indicated at D. To the movable switch-rails are connected locking-bars 2, which, as at switches a and d, may be continuations of the locking-bar 3, forming a part of the switch-shifting mechanisms 1 and 1, or, as at switches Z), c, and 6, may project in the opposite direction from the locking-bar 3, but are preferably connected at the same point to the movable switch-rails. These locking-bars 2 pass at Serial No. 800,705. (No model.)

their outer ends through slots in a guideplate at, secured to cross-ties or to any other suitable support, and when shifted by the switchrails move transversely to the lines of movement of the locking-pins 5. These locking=- pins are mounted in bearings 6, preferably formed on the sides of the plates 4, as shown in Fig. 2, and are connected to a rod or pipe 7, extending from a lever in the tower D. The locking-bars 2 are provided with suitable 6o openings for the reception of the pins 5, said openings being so located that one or the other of them will be in linewith the locking-pins when the switches have been fully shifted to one or the other of their positions and locked by the mechanisms 1 l &c. The lever to which the rod 7 is connected is so interlocked by any of the well-known systems of interlocking with the levers employed for operating the signals shown at S as to require said lever to be so shifted as to cause pins 5 to engage thelocking-bars 2 before any of the signal-levers can be shifted to clear the signals; but said lever is not locked by the movements of the signal-levers, as otherwise the clearing of any of the signals for one combination or arrangement of track would look up the whole yard.

In operating a switch and signal apparatus embodying my invention it is necessary before anyswitch movement can be effected that the lever connected to the rod 7 be shifted so as to withdraw the pins 5 from engagement with the locking-bars 2. Any desired switch movement can then be effected through the medium of the mechanisms 1 1, &c., such switch movements being accompanied by the orderly movements of the locking mechan isms and detector-rails forming part of the mechanisms 1 1, &c., as described in the Letters Patent hereinbefore referred to 5 but as the locking-pin lever, in withdrawing the pins 5 from the locking-bar, locked the sig nals at danger, it is necessary to so shift said lever as to cause the pins 5 to again en- 5 gage the locking-bars 2, thereby testing the positions of the switches before the signal or signals can be again cleared. It will be un derstood that the levers for operating the switch mechanisms and the levers for shifting 1 0C) the signals are interlocked, as usual, and hence it is necessary not only that the switch mech anisms 1 1, (be, be operated to properly shift the switches, but also that the locking-pin lever be shifted to test the switch movements before a signal can be cleared. As the pins 5 do not have any connection to the switchlocks proper or the detector-rails, said pins may be shifted at any time, and these pins and their operatingmechanism are independ ent of the switch and signal apparatus, except that a test movement of the pins is necessary before a signal atdanger can be cleared.

It will be observed that apparatus as described is more in the nature of a lock-test for determining whether the switch mechanism has properly performed its function of shifting and locking the switch. This mechanism is not designed to replace the switch shifting and locking mechanism, but is supplemental thereto.

It is not necessary to provide a lock for every switch in a yard, but it is necessary that the proper position of the switch should be insured before thesignal is cleared; hence the lever for operating the lock-test is so interlocked in the machine as to require a test movement thereof before the signal can be cleared, but interlocking mechanism is so constructed that the clearing of the signal will not lock the test-lever.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. The combination of a railroad-yard consistin g of a series of two or more switches, each provided with mechanism for shifting and lockin g the rails thereof, and a corresponding series of lock-tests for insuring the proper adjustment of the switches in either of the positions thereof, all of said lock-tests being connected to and operated simultaneouslyby a single lever, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of a railroad-yard consisting of a series of two or more switches, each provided with a locking-bar and with mechanism for shifting and locking the rails thereof, and a series of two or more pins adapted to engage said bars in either of the positions of the switch-rails, all of said pins being connected to and operated by a single lever, substantially as set forth.

The combination of a railroad-yard consisting of a series of two or more switches, each provided with mechanism for shifting and locking the rails thereof, a corresponding series of lock-tests for insuring, the proper adjustment of the switches in either of the positions thereof, all of said lock-tests being connected to and operated by a single lever, and signal-operating levers controlled by the lever foroperatin g the lock-tests, substantially as set forth.

a. The combination of a railroad-yard consisting of a series of two or more switches, a corresponding series of lock-tests for insuring the proper adjustment of the switches in either of the positions thereof, all of said lock-tests being connected to and operated simultaneously by a single lever, signals controlling the movements of trains in the yard, the levers for operating said signals being so interlocked with the lever operating the testloeks as to require atesting movement of the latter before the signals can be cleared, and the clearing of the signals will not lock the test-lever, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JAMES T. IIAMBAY.

Vitnesscs:

DARWIN Wonoorr, W. B. CoRwIN. 

